Life of the Lonely
by Lonelygreydog
Summary: England has lived for over two-thousand years; a lot can happen to one in that time. What happened to England to make him hot-tempered and sarcastic in order to hide his pain? What caused his pain in the first place? Step into a world in which England transforms from an ignorant child into the mighty British empire. (this spans from his child year after Romes fall to modern times.)
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

Only a miracle could save the helpless baby, born only to be abandoned in the near by woods. It was a shame, he was very strong and beautiful. His piercing green eyes were brighter than the fern and moss growing around the woods. His hair was blonde-No, not blonde-His hair was golden; it so magnificent that there was only one explanation that for it. He was a angel. A gift given to him by his mother along with her strength. Though he was strong, though he was not strong enough to battle the other countries that would soon find him. Young countries are the easiest to kill. Nothing was going to help him. There were no such thing as miracles. Only fools believed they existed. Everything good had an evil hiding in it.

The fairies did not believe in this thought. They wanted to help the child. They wanted to give him a miracle. Something that had to be well thought out. They could give him an army, but it would be no match for the power of the Roman Empire. They could give him territory, but it would just be a beacon to other nations to take land away from him. They could give him many things , but none would help. One of the fairies thought of an idea that might help him. She thought that they could raise him, protect him from the harms he would face, shelter him from outside problems.

The fairies came together and agreed on this. They would help him hide from the other nations, they would raise him as a mortal if they had to in order to protect him.

**Names**

**England: Albion, Arthur**

**Wales: Cairne, Dylan**

**Scotland: Caledonia, Allistair**

**Ireland: Eire, Patrick**

**Maerwynn: Maerwynn**

**Fairy 1: Josephin**

**Fairy2: Andrea**

**Fairy 3: Madeline**

**France: Francis**

**America: Alfred, the blue eyed boy**

**Northern Ireland: Seamus**


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 1

The fairies were proud of Albion. He had grown up so much in the last couple of years. When they first encountered him in the forest he looked like a newborn, now he looked about five in human years. He was of course stronger than a five-year-old, but he was still no match to the other nations. His brothers, whom of course Albion had no idea existed because the fairies felt he would want to meet them, were in their teen years. The oldest one being fifteen. If these nations found Albion all of the fairies work would be in vain.

All of them, because of this reason, agreed to raise him in the forest. Albion would live as they would. He would live in balance with nature and magic. The fairies felt it was important for one to learn magic, and lucky for them it was easy to teach Albion. The boy was an eager learner and a natural at magic.

The boy was sitting in a patch of grass, listening as one of the fairies, Madeline, explained the process of concentrating life energy into a dead plant. She explained it was important to learn how to heal plants and other animals. She also added the point that if you helped out a fellow critter, they may return the favour. Only the fairies and a few others understood the balances of the world.

Madeline smiled as Albion started concentrating on healing the dead rose bush in front of him. The brown leave's colour slowly began to turn greenish as the moisture returned to the leaves. When Albion stopped channeling his energy due to exhaustion, the plant had a few alive, but wilting, leaves. Albion panted, rubbing his temples.

"You did well for your first try. It takes an equal amount of energy from yourself to heal. Since the object you are trying to heal is a plant, it does not require so much magic to heal it compared to that of an animal. If you were to try to heal an animal it would be an eye for an eye type of deal. Plants are a lot easier to heal." Madeline explained this to Arthur to give him an understanding of his limits. "Once you get better at magic and understand the capacity of your magic reservation, you will be able to complete miracles. Some say, though it is forbidden by magic law, if you are really good at magic...You would be able to bring a dead human back to life. Since human souls are so strong, the task would be impossible."

Albion nodded, wide-eyed. "If I get really good I could raise the dead? Could I bring Mother back that way?" Madeline turned away from her pupil.

"You're mother… Is not here. Don't try to do things you don't understand. Right now, let's work on healing magic. When you get powerful enough we can talk about the consequences of raising the dead."

/\\\\\

Albion sat on a small log in a clearing in the forest. He had a stick in his hand and was randomly drawing figures in the earth below him. He drew many mythical creatures like unicorns and dragon. He liked the old tales and stories and had always wished he could have been able to live in those times so he could slay his own dragons, or cut off Medusa's head himself. He knew he was clever enough to defeat the monsters. Years of being alone, spare the fairies that showed up occasionally to check up on him, made him swift and cunning. There was nothing he couldn't solve, and no challenge that would overcome him. Well, except there was one thing that confused him.

He had always seen baby animals with their parents. Being taught how to live, given food and the baby animals were separated from their parents they would die. The baby animals would grow up and leave their parents if they were lucky enough to live through winter .The boy knew that he was a baby animal as well, so he couldn't help but be curious on why he didn't have a mother or father. He wondered why he hadn't died. He had tried to tell the fairies about his troubles, but they didn't want to talk about that. Albion never brought the topic up again since he knew when to be stubborn and when to step back. He knew it was a weak spot for the fairies by the sad expressions on their face.

Albion drew one of the fairies in the dirt. He looked at it for a second and decided to scribble on it. The fairies were hiding something from him so shouldn't he be mad? He thought that he deserved to be mad. He was different from the other creatures. He wanted to know why.

Albion stood up, throwing the stick to the side, and started his venture to the fairies home. He walked in sort of a rough way, making sure the thoroughly stepped on every plant that got into his way. On the way he scowled at the bird songs and the frog croaks. He always hated frogs.

The walk was a short one, only taking about fifteen minutes to reach the familiar enclave. The curious little creatures flew from their small homes of oak to meet their friend. They flew around him excitedly to see what he needed.

"What are you hiding" Albion bluntly stated. This was not all all what the fairies were expecting. They recovered from their short lived shock and one sighed.

"We only hide what you don't ask, Albion. If you asked us we would tell you" Andrea looked at her child sadly.

"Why am I not like the rest of the creatures in the woods?" Albion looked up at them coldly. "Why do I not need a parent?"

"We are the ones who raised you. There will be no more of this!" Madeline snapped, crossing her arms.

"Now Madeline," Andrea lectured, "That was rude, let the boy ask if he pleases to do so."

"That did not answer my question. Why do I not have a parent." Arthur, now impatient, crossed his arms.

The fairies looked at each other, then back at Arthur. Josephine for the first time entered the conversation. "We found you in the woods, Albion. Have we not told you this?"

Arthur eyes teared up. "I just want to know why I'm so different. If you won't help me I'll just find out myself" And with that he left.

/\\\\\

Albion had never been so happy in his life. The fairies had finally agreed to explain why he was here and who he was. After years of asking, pestering, and bothering them about it they just couldn't stand it any more. "So you are going to tell me who I am?"

Josephine sighed. "I guess we have to. If we didn't you'll throw a tantrum."

Albion sighed. "You know I wouldn't. Tantrums do not do anything but make people look down on you."

Josephine smiled. "We found you in the woods ten years ago. You were just a baby then so we had to protect you... So we took you in."

Arthur crossed his arms "You say that every time."

"And it is going to be that answer until the stars are re-written and the past can be changed." Madeline fumed. There were three types of fairies. The first type, like Josephine, were wise and knew everything about the universe. They knew who created it, why it was created, the signs of the future, and everything about magic. There were also fairies like Andrea. They pulled tricks on mortals and stole their goods. Arthur always imagined her as a spawn of Hermes. And then there were fairies like Madeline. They were arrogant and had the worst temper.

"Madeline, I think it is time to tell him who he really is." Josephine smiled at Albion. "Would you like me to continue?"

"I would."

"We found you in that place in the woods. We knew you were special. We were friends of your mother you know. We were very surprised to see you there." Jennifer paused. "Your mother went by the name of Albion. She looked just like you. The only difference is your hair. Your hair comes from your father. Both your mother and your father are countries. You are a country as well. Your purpose in this world is to personify your country, to make important decisions, and to help your people

"If your people, or your land, or your culture are weak or falling apart you will feel that pain and bare those scars. When we found you we knew we had to protect you, for if we didn't, another country would have come in and taken your land. This would have possibly killed you"

Arthur was silent throughout the talk because he knew it was rude to interrupt. When Josephine stopped talking, he asked the one question he had "Why did they leave me?" He wasn't so much concerned about his future or about the fact that they had hid this from him. He knew that everything the fairies did was for a reason. All he wanted to know was why his parents had left.

"Your mother had died trying to protect you. The Roman Empire wanted your land, he wanted to take you away from her. Your mother didn't want you injured or killed. When the Roman Empire came to take you, she fought him. She and Germania fought him. When the Roman Empire wasn't looking she gave you to Caledonia to hide you. She and Germania eventually, after years, defeated him. When the task was done Germania betrayed her trust and killed her."

Albion was silent. His mother had died trying to protect him. Albion didn't deserve his mothers name. He caused her death. He caused her pain. She would be alive right now if it wasn't for him. He was a monster. He didn't deserve to live.

He hadn't even gotten the chance the thank her.

/\\\\\

The boy was nameless. He was an evil, nameless monster who caused death. He shouldn't be alive. Albion should have let him die. He would of preferred that. She would be alive and happy with who ever this Caledonia person was. They wouldn't have to worry about him, or hate him so much that they would dump him in the forest. The boy hated himself.

The boy stared at his reflection in the creek. He hated the look of himself; he looked far too perfect to be himself. He was a murderer, a monster.

"Are you okay?" The boy jumped. Who was that? "You seem upset"

The boy looked into the pond and saw a girl. So I am seeing an image of the future..or another dimension. The boy looked at the image and it changed to a fiery haired boy. He had a dagger on his belt and a masterfully crafted bow slung over his shoulder. He, too, looked at himself in a creek, though not to see a vision. The boy teared up and threw his hand over his reflection. The image changed again. It showed another boy. This time he was blonde and had piercing blue eyes. It changed to showed the boy grown up. The older version, however, was in a war.

This was a warning. What did he need to be warned of?

There was a girl burning on a cross, the blonde man crying for her. The red haired boy, now a man, looked too thin to still be alive. His was starved. He was broken down crying again. This time crying for his people who had just been starved an massacred.

The boy didn't want to look. He didn't want to see all of these people suffering but he somehow knew he needed to know what was going to happen. He pulled his attention back the the creek and the last thing he saw was the fading image of a child.

This child was different; he knew it. The boy felt attached to the kid in a sort of brotherly way. The kid smiled up at him wide-eyed and care-free. There was nothing anyone could to to put a dent in his mood, his blue eyes always filled with joy and glee.

_His eyes..._ The boy couldn't stop thinking about them. _I've seen them before…. I think they were in a dream. A faded memory from so long ago resurfacing only to punish me for my cruel ways of thinking._

_This life,..so cruel yet so enchanting, is so hard to interpret. Is it here to help us on our paths toward victory and fame...or is it simply here to remind us that we are not supposed to win anything… that we are only here to help the next ones to come._


	3. Chapter 3

The boy had come up with a name for himself. Arthur. He heard one of the boys playing in the woods use it. Arthur wasn't brave enough to go talk to the other children himself so he just watched them play. It was very entertaining. One of the boys was "it", he was supposed to try and catch the other boys as they all ran away. If one of the people was touched by the person who was it, they became it. The children looked like they were having so much fun playing their games. Arthur so badly wanted to join them, but they didn't know he was there, for he watched them in the shadows.

He was sitting behind a tree at the moment. The children were playing a new game where the "it" person counted while the other children hid. Arthur thought this one was stupid because if the person who was it decided he didn't want to play the other kids wouldn't know. They would stay in the forest until something else found them. Arthur laughed. It would be kind of funny if a wolf or a bear found them. Arthur imagined a beast counting to twenty before finding it's dinner. Did other animals play games like these? Humans couldn't be the only animal with games. Arthur did recall watching wolf pups chase each other through the woods. Maybe they had an it person as well.

Arthur hid further behind the tree as he heard one of the boys approach his spot. _How funny, it looks like I am hiding from the it person as well._ Arthur crept to a large boulder as quietly as he could so not to get caught. Once he was safely behind the rock, he crouched just to be safe. Arthur tensed up as he heard footsteps close to where he was. It wasn't one of the boys playing the games. A calm, feminine voice whispered, "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't mean to scare you." Arthur was scared for a second since he had never encountered a female human before. He knew that female animals were quite protective of their young, so she could be deadly. "You don't need to be scared." Her voice was very soft and sweet, Arthur quickly realized his mistake. She was a young human, a child as well. Arthur thought for a minute before slowly leaving his hiding place.

The girl was quite surprised when she saw that the thing she was coaxing was a little boy. She had thought that she had scared of a deer or a rabbit. She quickly recovered and smiled at the child. "You're a bit too young to be playing in the woods." The girl walked closer to the child in a rather slow speed as if she was trying not to scare Arthur, who was was obviously very scared since he was recoiling at everything the girl did. "Are you okay? You seem upset."

Arthur didn't know what to do. His head was going a hundred miles an hour trying to come up with something to say. To make things worse, this girl seemed familiar and he couldn't put his finger on why. His heart was pounding like a loud drum beating the rhythm of an army ready for war. Arthur could only stand there in terror.

"You're shaking." The girl took off her cloak slowly, gently placing the fur on Arthur's shoulders. Arthur's breath quickened as he flinched. "Why are you so scared? I'm not going to hurt you." The girls whispered. Arthur stared at her with wide eyes. What should he say? How come he knew the language she was speaking? The fairies never taught it to him. They had only taught him elvish.

"I-I am fine" Arthur looked up the the girl. She was really pretty. Her eyes were the spring grass, and her hair was the wheat glowing in the sun. "Wh-what is your name?"

"Maerwynn. What about you?" Maerwynn smiled at him again. Why did she have to smile at him like that? Did she not know that it made him uncomfortable. Arthur played with the strings on the cloak. What was he supposed to say? Albion? He hated using that name so much. Could he use Arthur? It wasn't his birth name, but…

"I'm...I'm Arthur…" Arthur blushed. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say?

"Nice to meet you, Arthur." Maerwynn curtsied with the same too-kind smile on her face. Arthur didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to do what she did? Did he insult her? Arthur didn't know if he needed to curtsy as well. Would it be rude if he didn't? "I still am curious on why you are out here."

Arthur was relieved that she said something for he didn't need to ponder the curtsying. "I was just walking around and I happened to run into a pack of humans." Was Arthur not supposed to be in these parts of the woods?

"You are not making any sense. Do you mean a village?"

"I suppose. Am I not supposed to be here?

"If you are an enemy I suppose…" Maerwynn playfully mocked fear then went back to her constant smile. "You are a bit young to be of any threat though."

"I don't mean any harm, at least I think I don't. I would not hurt one of my own blood, even if this is the first time I am talking to another human." Arthur didn't know why, but Maerwynn looked at him oldy. Was it something he said?

"Where do you live then? Who raised you?" The young girl was sympathetic towards the newly acquaintanced child. It was a miracle he survived.

"I-I live in the woods…" Arthur knew this sounded strange by the look on Maerwynn's face. Arthur didn't know what the expression meant. "N-not like what you think, though. The fairy-folk raised me since my mother died."

Maewynn's eyes grew to the size of plates. "The fairy-folk?" She became excited, for not many have spoken or seen the fairies. "Can I meet them? What do the look like? I hear they're really pretty."

Arthur shifted his weight, still very new to the idea of socializing. "I-I suppose if they are alright with meeting you. Th-They are a bit shy around new people.." Arthur looked down, not wanting to meet eye contact.

"Can you ask?" She said quickly after he responded, her eagerness clearly present. Arthur nodded slowly, still looking at his feet.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow, with the answer." With that, he quickly walked off. He pretended not to hear the girl as she yelled out to him to wait.

/\\\\\

When Arthur approached the fairies, he was immediately pestered with magic lessons and did not have time to ask. He was being taught how to levitate objects, since he was now very well acquaintance with the idea of healing magic. To the fairies surprise, he had been able to heal the wing of a grounded blackbird with little consequence. With only a small laceration in return, his natural abilities were obviously far superior to even the average fairy.

Arthur now was given the task to pull a fully sized log up to the low branch of a pine tree. The fairies no longer sheltered him in his lessons and gave him hard tasks, that would often frustrate him. _Why can't they go easy on me? If I start small I might be able to work up to the larger things._ Arthur sighed as the log shifted, not coming close to lifting. Arthur stopped concentrating for a second, then focused all of his energy in lifting the object. To his surprise, it lifted about seven centimeters and promptly dropped to the ground.

Arthur was neither an optimist or pessimist, and did not look at the situation in a clouded manner. He did not think that him lifting it was a great achievement, nor did he think that he would never be able to lift the log because he only managed to to lift it so little this time. He saw it as a landmark, nothing more. He would build up to the full height. As for now, he would accept his feat, but not cherish it.

Him nor the fairies noticed the patch of dead grass around Arthur's feet after he listed the log.

/\\\\\

Arthur returned to the spot in the woods the next day, seeing that his friend was waiting under the tree they met at. He approached her with less fear, for he thought it over and determined he was being stupid. Fearing such a harmless creature could be laughed at. Arthur had even been looking forward to talking to her. "Hello" He called out when he was close enough to be heard.

Maerwynn looked up, then smiled. "Hello." She paused. "Sorry, but I forgot your name"

Arthur nodded and told her "It's Arthur."

Maerwynn smiled "Well, Arthur, you ran off before we could talk more. You seem like you are less...Scared today though" Arthur nodded then sat beside her. "Did you ask your friends if I could see them?"

Arthur sighed "I'm sorry. I didn't have very much time to yesterday."

Maerwynn covered up her sadness and disappointment and cheerily said "Oh, it's fine. Don't be sorry." They both sat there, after Arthur didn't respond, in a prolonged silence. Both of them, not knowing if they should be the one to break it, didn't say a word. About three minutes past, which is a long time for a silence and seemed like much longer, Maerwynn spoke. "Would you like to do anything?"

Arthur looked up and nodded "Like what?" He pushed himself up to meet her eyes. She paused.

"We could go around the village" She proposed. She stood up before Arthur responded.

"Is it nice there?" He looked up curiously.

"Yeah, it is." She began to walk, with Arthur at her side, out of the woods and to the village. When the wooden gates pulled into view, Arthur was stunned. At the houses, too. He had never seen anything like this before, but they seemed rather efficient. Arthur looked around and took in everything he could. He took in the little boys playing around the market, the livestock roaming the streets, the sellers trying to promote their goods, the laborers working on buildings or tending to wheat, and even the women who were putting the pies out to cool.

Arthur was so intrigued, he forgot to look in his direct range of view and bumped into an older boy. The boy looked down at Arthur and instantly he felt fear. This boy had a certain look to him that made him shudder."Watch it, kid."

"H-he didn't mean anything, sorry" Maerwynn apologized. The boy looked up to her, and a wicked smirk adorned his face.

"If it isn't the little woods girl. Is this what you dragged out this time?" He asked, looking at Arthur.

Maerwynn fumed, clenching her fists at her side. "Take that back!" She snapped. "You are just a fleak!"

"I knew the woods thing was an issue, but speaking like that to a man… You will make a terrible wife, not being lady like." The boy knew what buttons to press, because Maerwynn was now at the verge of punching the smug look off his face. She knew that she couldn't, though. A women was never allowed to hit a man.

"I will at least make a better wife than you." She said, turning her heel while grabbing Arthur's hand to direct him to another part of town.

"Hey!" The boy yelled out. "Did you just imply I was a lady?"


End file.
